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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26165428">with a pace and a fury defiant</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marquis_De_Mayhem/pseuds/Marquis_De_Mayhem'>Marquis_De_Mayhem</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Mechanisms (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, Found Family, Implied/Referenced Suicidal Tendencies, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Medical Experimentation, Nightmares, Stalking, but the essential concept is the same, i WILL make you care about this bastard man if you don't already, mark my words, obviously it doesnt really stick but. yeah, stay safe kiddos, trapped on a ship with something very dangerous, yall know tpp shadows on the ship? this is that but for the mechs and also Not, yknow for the gays</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 02:53:37</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,216</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26165428</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marquis_De_Mayhem/pseuds/Marquis_De_Mayhem</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p><em>Achilles, Achilles, Achilles come down</em><br/><em>Won’t you get up off, get up off the roof?</em><br/>Or, the only fear greater that the fear of the unknown is that which is known most intimately.</p><p>The good doctor’s back, and she doesn’t plan on leaving.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Gunpowder Tim/Drumbot Brian, Ivy Alexandria/Raphaella la Cognizi, Ivy Alexandria/Raphaella la Cognizi/Marius von Raum, Jonny d'Ville &amp; Nastya Rasputina, The Aurora/Nastya Rasputina</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>70</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>140</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This started as me infodumping about an idea into the angst channel of the Mechscord, and now here we are. Hope y'all enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They should have realized.</p><p>It had started small, a little crack in the side of the Aurora’s hull. It hadn’t even needed replacing, Nastya had just welded it shut, whispering sweet Cyberian nothings into the cold metal. They had figured it was just the momentary glitch in the shields coupled with an opportune piece of debris, though Aurora still seemed tense. Nastya supposed it was reasonable enough. Brian had run a diagnostic and couldn’t find anything wrong that could have caused the glitch in the shield, and she knew Aurora took failing to protect her very hard. </p><p>“It’s alright, звезда. It was just a glitch, it happens.” She rested her head against the smooth plating, listening to the soft hum of her love calm down from its frantic buzz. </p><p>Nastya had thought that would be it. A single glitch, a momentary issue and that was the end of it.</p><p>Instead, things began to get stranger.</p><p>One day it had been a mysterious crack all the way through a plate that had required them to stop for a replacement (And hadn’t <em>that </em>been a misadventure). The next occurrence had been during a battle, with the entire shield going offline for a full minute, although once again Brian could find no problems in the code. Nastya had been shot in that one, too. Clean through the chest, according to Marius’s somber report. Aurora had been inconsolable that night. Nastya had stayed with her, telling her that it was alright, she hadn’t had control over the glitch, they were both alright. Still, when she woke up gasping from a particularly bad nightmare to a sound like weeping from the walls around her, she couldn’t quite bring herself to believe her own words. </p><p>Things were getting out of hand.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>A few days later, following a harrowing few hours of a completely nonfunctional segment of the shield, Jonny called a meeting. </p><p>“Alright, I’ve been meaning to get around to this since that fight. Brian or Nastya, would either of you care to tell us what the <em>fuck</em> is going on?” </p><p>“That’s just it! We don’t know!” came Brian from where he was running the third consecutive diagnostic on the shields. He looked frantic, his copper-wire ringlets frazzled and out of place. She thought he’d be sweating if he, you know, had human skin. </p><p>“What do you <em>mean, </em>you don’t know?!”</p><p>“It means just that, Jonny.” Nastya cut in tiredly from her spot near the main controls, bringing the budding argument to an abrupt halt. She had a hand laid on the panel, worry etched into the sleepless lines of her face. </p><p>“We are dealing with something that’s beyond even what we know.”</p><p>“That’s… not ideal.” Jonny’s irritation died down, and Nastya could see the concern bubbling up to take its place. </p><p>“No, it isn’t.” She sighed, running her other hand through her hair. “Something else is going on, and Aurora either doesn’t know,” her gaze flicked to the panel her hand was on, “or won’t tell me.”</p><p>The panel lights up beneath her palm and Brian and Jonny both crowd around her, trying to see what their starship had to say. </p><p><em>I did not want to alarm you, </em>the letters flicked up on the screen. <em>But I fear that my worries may be justified after all.</em></p><p>“Oh, come on! It’ll be <em>fine</em>, we’re plenty tough,” Jonny snapped from where he was, squished into Nastya’s side. </p><p>She swats his nose, and says to her love, “Arenka, dear, whatever it is, I’m sure it’s fine.”</p><p><em>I… </em>the flickering cursor where Aurora is typing hesitates. <em>I believe Carmilla may be accessing the overrides in my shield programs.</em></p><p>Nastya saw Brian’s metallic eyes go wide as he read, a slow <em>creeeaaak </em>accompanying it. Jonny went as pale as a sheet, a ghost in the control room. </p><p>“There’s no way, she’s been gone for ages!” he yelled, almost defensively. Brian nodded emphatically, adding that “Maybe somebody else figured out an override. It’s perfectly possible, we haven’t updated the shield programs in decades.”</p><p>Nastya didn’t like this. She didn’t like it at all. “Ara, do you want to maybe have one of us keep watch for her? I can monitor the activity logs for anything strange.”
When Aurora’s cursor races across the screen, it reads like a sigh of relief. <em>That would be good, солнышко. Thank you ^-^.</em></p><p>“Anything, любовник.” Nastya stretched and got up, though she still felt uneasy. Brian and Jonny followed after, and they went back to their respective activities.</p><p>That night, Nastya sat down with a tablet containing the activity logs of Aurora’s shield systems. There was not so much as a blip or a single line of comment text to indicate that anyone had gotten in, and the shields remained as strong as ever. Finally, she went to her quarters in the morning, when Jonny woke up to wander around. If he seemed a bit worn when she saw him, she chalked it up to anxiety over the things Aurora had said and fell into a deep sleep. She woke around midday to a plate of sweet-smelling French toast and a doodle of her on a scrap of paper, signed only as “J.” She smiled, and began to eat.</p><p>Nothing happened for nearly five months, not even a second’s glitch. None of Nastya’s late nights yielded so much as a single entry in the activity logs. Gradually, Aurora’s tension began to ease, and Nastya went back to her usual routine.</p><p>Complacency. That was their first mistake.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>She had been fast asleep when it had happened. A literally ear-shattering explosion sounded from the other end of the ship, at around 3 in the morning, ship’s time.</p><p>Nastya sat bolt upright in her bed, ignoring the thin trail of blood coming from her ears. She slipped on her jacket and boots as they healed, her hearing returning in small pops.</p><p>She ran toward the common room until Brian stopped her, clapping a hand over her mouth.</p><p>"Don’t move." Nastya made an <em>mmph!</em> of protest that he quickly shushed. </p><p>"She's here. I was walking the same way as you were when Aurora flicked on the camera feed on the screen by my quarters. <em>Stay as far from the common room as possible.</em> She’s armed."
</p><p>Nastya felt a bit of embarrassment tint her face with silver. She should have thought to check the screens, but the bolt of pure fear that ran up her spine when she felt Aurora explode in what must have been agonizing pain had clouded her judgement. She’d mainly been focused on protecting her love.</p><p>She walked back with Brian, who had made the wise decision to slip his metal feet into a pair of slippers that muffled his steps, toward the hallway with the crew's quarters.</p><p>“You go get the others," she whispered, doing her best to not let her voice shake, "I’ll get Jonny."</p><p>"He could get loud or violent, Nastya-"</p><p>"And if you get him, he'll assume the worst happened to me, and then he'll definitely get loud and violent. I’ll take care of it."</p><p>Brian opens his mouth to say something, then thinks better of it, and pads off toward Raphaella's room. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Nastya walked into the room of the person she was the most worried about.</p><p> </p><p>As it turns out, she didn't have to worry about waking Jonny. He was sitting upright on his bed, hair mussed and spidery eyeliner smudged on one side where he'd forgotten to take it off.</p><p>“Jonny-“</p><p>"She’s here, isn't she."</p><p>"Jonny..." Nastya sighed, shaky and edged with worry. "Yes, she is."</p><p>"I knew it." He was reaching for something under a pile of fabric scraps. The other hand was in his hair, winding, pulling at his scalp. "I knew it, I knew it, I knew we should have listened to Aurora the first time and now everyone's in danger and it's my fault for not-" His voice was shaky with climbing panic, which gripped at Nastya’s heart, and climbing volume, which made the poor thing do space olympic backflips up into her throat.</p><p>"<em>Jonny!</em>" Almost without her permission, her hand reached out from her side to gently untangle Jonny's from his hair.</p><p>"I know you're scared, Jonny-"</p><p>"I’m not bloody scared, Nastya, i'm worried that I just fucking <em>doomed</em> our entire crew!"</p><p>"Ok then, you're <em>worried,</em> but you need to keep your volume down and come with me. We’re meeting the others in Tim and Brian’s workshop, come on."</p><p>Jonny sighed, deep and shaky, a sigh that mirrored Nastya's own. When he spoke, his voice reminded Nastya of a butterfly with a broken wing- a small, frail thing, on the verge of flickering out.</p><p>"Alright." He picked up the thing he pulled out of the massive pile of fabric- a large satchel, full to bursting. He almost met Nastya’s eyes, but his gaze darted away as he clipped his guns to one of his belts, tucked into pockets enough knives to outdo the galaxy's best kitchens.</p><p> </p><p>As they walked down the hall, Jonny stuck close to her side, eyes darting around like a skittish horse, flinching at every bang from the common room. Nastya wrapped her arm tighter around his chest, pulling him close to her, as if her arms were steel or titanium or diamond, as if she could shield him from everything, her fire-forged brother shaking like a leaf in her arms.</p><p>"How were you so prepared, anyway?"</p><p>Jonny's shoulders drew in impossibly closer to him, and Nastya was struck by how much <em>smaller</em> he was compared to her.</p><p>"I've been.... I've been having nightmares, a-about <em>her</em>."
</p><p>Nastya's heart took a breather from all the hurting it had been doing today to properly <em>break</em>. She and Jonny had faced everything together, back when they had been only newly mechanized, but Carmilla seemed to take more joy in the atrocities she had committed when they were on Jonny. Maybe it was Nastya’s poise or the steel she had built in her core, or maybe it was that he screamed better than her. Hell, maybe it was plain old sentimentality for her first… <em>creation</em>. </p><p>But she remembered as clear as day the scars it left on him, the boy (Because he was, wasn't he? Only 19, what was Carmilla <em>thinking</em>? Actually, scratch that. Nastya didn't want to know.) with the literal heart of gold that stuck by her side all those lonely, terrifying decades. She remembered holding him through the countless panic attacks, all the nights he woke up screaming, all the times she called his name through the haze of disassociation, doing her best to help him remember that the one who had hurt him was far away in the void of space, centuries gone.</p><p>Except she wasn't anymore, was she? The one who had hurt them was right here, on their ship, and there was not a chance she was going to let them give her the slip a second time.</p><p>"Jonny..." She started, then decided against saying anything else in favor of dropping a kiss on the top of his head, soft and worried in the way only a sister can be. He leaned his head into it, and if a tear pricked at the corner of his eye, neither of them mentioned it.</p><p>Nastya couldn’t help but heave a sigh of relief when they reached the workshop, its warm lights a lighthouse amongst the terrifying unknown of the ship's halls. Raphaella was slipping through the door when they got there, and her tense expression smoothed when she saw them. She nodded approvingly at Jonny’s bag. </p><p>"What’s inside?"</p><p>"Oh! Uh- It's- I saved rations."</p><p>"Good thinking. Come inside, Captain." </p><p>The effect on Jonny would have been funny if it wasn't so commonly featured in Nastya's memories. His face lit up momentarily, and he looked so painfully young that Nastya had to blink hard to clear the sight from her mind. Then it twisted into guilt, writ in the furrow of his brow. He nodded back at Raphaella, absently, and stepped through the door of the workshop without another word.</p><p>Nastya herself only lingered in the hall long enough to lean her head against the wall, lips leaving a quick but sincere kiss to its cold metal surface. She had thought they'd have to run longer, but if anything, the distance to the workshop had been even shorter than usual, and Nastya's poor battered heart swelled with pride and appreciation for her love. She had been deeply wounded, and yet she still was doing her best to help them.</p><p>"Thank you, дорогой." her fingers pressed against the wall, fervent like a prayer and its answer all in one. Then she took a deep breath, drew up that steel from inside her, and headed through the workshop door.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Brian surveyed the workshop around him. </p><p>Nastya had just entered the room, the door sliding shut behind her. Jonny had followed behind Raphaella a moment before, refusing to meet anyone’s eyes. Marius was uneasily sitting with the Toy Soldier, who was pretending to cast a concerned glance at the door. Ashes was flicking their lighter on and off, watching the flame burst out and die just as quickly. Ivy was keeping a white-knuckled grip on her book, mechanical brain humming quietly as she calculated through endless possibilities, wincing where she saw them end in blood and tragedy.</p><p>Tim was sitting next to him, one hand laid over his own. He’d been in the workshop the whole time, on account of a late night finishing up a project.</p><p>A split second before the explosion forced him properly awake, Brian had bolted upright, head bombarded with blurry visions of his crew back inside the lab, someone screaming in pain, the rest silent with paralyzing terror. He had awoken with a hand clutched at his metal chest, feeling for where his heart thudded from within its chamber. </p><p>Then he saw Nastya running for the common room on the hall cameras, and all fear for the future fell away.</p><p>
  <em>You have to protect her.</em>
</p><p>Brian ran as fast he dared, glancing up as Aurora pulled up camera feeds on each screen he passed. Nastya running down the hall. Smoke pouring into the common room. He winced sympathetically at the sight of the gaping hole in the side of the ship, bleeding from around the edges.</p><p>Then he saw something that made him stand dead still.</p><p>In front of the wound was a tall, elegant figure holding a cane in one hand and a railgun in the other.</p><p>He knew that figure.</p><p>“Oh god, Aurora,” he breathed, barely even daring to say it aloud. “We’re in deep shit, aren’t we?”</p><p>He turned away and into the hallway where Nastya was. As she opened her mouth - maybe to call out to her love, maybe just to shout - he clapped one hand over it.</p><p>"Don’t move." He said, feeling a phantom tightness in his brass chest at the noise of protest coming from the engineer. </p><p>"She's here.” He was rambling, barely having a chance to think over his words before they came spilling out.</p><p>“I was walking the same way as you were when Aurora flicked on the camera feed on the screen by my quarters.<em> Stay as far from the common room as possible</em>. she's armed."</p><p>In the light of the hall, he could see Nastya flush silver, a sudden fondness accompanying the sight. They’d been together for so long, Aurora and Nastya, Nastya and Aurora. It must have been terrifying for her. </p><p>He held out his hand to her, and they walked quietly back down the hallway.</p><p>Nastya walked next to him with the poise and composure only born of her unique blend of nobility and hardship. He remembered well when she would stumble out of Carmilla’s lab, the same look on her face, even as it was betrayed by the countless bandages up and down her arms, the unsteady sway in her step, the way she flinched every time she heard the muffled sound of Jonny’s scream.</p><p>Brian <em>hated </em>that look.</p><p>It reminded him of the nights where Nastya would wake up shivering and sore, unable to move. The times she’d come out of the lab, shaking and terrified, and she <em>still</em> wouldn’t let him hold her. Only Jonny curling up next to her, wrapping his hands around her and pressing his overheated face to her chest, would ever help.</p><p>He was glad they’d found that comfort in each other.</p><p>Still, he couldn’t deny that it stung. </p><p>He turned to her, pulled out of his memories by the sound of her voice. 

“You go get the others," she whispered to him, "I’ll get Jonny."</p><p>A billion memories of the boy thrashing, yelling, snarling at Carmilla, at him, at the universe seemed to surface. "He could get loud or violent, Nastya-"</p><p>She cut him off. "And if you get him, he'll assume the worst happened to me, and then he'll definitely get loud and violent. I’ll take care of it." Her gaze still glinted with steel, distant and so cold.</p><p>He couldn't deny that she had a point there. He opened his mouth to respond, but found he had nothing to say. Turning around and heading for Ivy’s quarters, he tried not to focus on how his heart ached in its chamber.</p><p>Getting the others had been easy enough. Ivy had already been awake when he got there, and rattled off the statistical likelihood of this scenario as they went to get the others. He suspected it was comforting to her, and hearing her talking about margins of error like nothing was wrong put him just a bit more at ease. They had gone to get Raphaella first, Ivy nervously mumbling that there was less than a 5% chance that Carmilla had beaten them there.</p><p>Brian had responded with a reassurance that the scientist could hold her own in a fight, but it still made him uneasy to think about. </p><p>Carmilla had beaten those odds before.</p><p>Raphaella had nearly shot them with some sort of experimental gun before she saw them. Brian smiled as she dropped it onto the table and ran forward to scoop up her girlfriend, arms and wings wrapping around her as she murmured “My darling” into her hair. 

“I’m glad you’re safe, lovebird. We’re going to go get the others.”</p><p>Before long, they had rounded up the others and made their way to the workshop. Tim was standing there, gun in his hands and a relieved smile on his face. Brian sighed as he slumped onto his shoulder.</p><p>“Everyone safe?” Tim’s hands were gently stroking his hair, untangling the thin wires where they were tangled up in each other.</p><p>“Mmmm.” Brian responded, not lifting his head from Tim’s chest. “Nastya’s bringing Jonny.”</p><p>Tim’s hands continued to card through his hair. “Was it really… her? Like Aurora said?” </p><p>Brian shuddered as the memory returned. “Yes. It was.” He shut his eyes, hearing a faint <em>squeak </em>as he did. There was silence for a while</p><p>So gently, Tim kissed the top of his head. “My dearheart.” His voice shook in the way Brian had fallen utterly in love with, the one so heavy with devotion it reshaped the very sound of the word. “My brave, <em>brave</em> dearheart.”</p><p>Brian could not cry. He had never remembered being able to, though he knows he must have once. But here, in Tim’s arms, he thought he could imagine the way the tears would well up in his aching eyes, spill over, soak into the gunner’s coat.</p><p>Tim made him feel human. He will forever be grateful for that.</p><p> </p><p>As Nastya stepped inside and the door closed behind her, Tim tangled up his fingers in Brian’s own. A few looked up at her as she entered. She seemed more at ease than she had before, though there was still that steely glint in her eye that gave Brian an impression of shivers to behold. </p><p>“Alright, so I’m sure I don’t need to explain to you all what’s going on. Carmilla has boarded the ship.”</p><p>A nearly visible wave of discomfort passed through the crew, people shuddering or flinching at the name. At last, Ashes piped up from their seat, still watching their lighter.</p><p>“The last time she showed up, she <em>did </em>sort of just… drag us to a bake sale. And then left.”</p><p>There’s something stabilizing about the quartermaster’s presence, Brian thinks. It sets everyone at ease. In this case, it gets everyone to chime in. Simultaneously. Brian winced as Jonny and Marius started to yell at the same time.</p><p>“Ashes, she <em>blew up the common room-</em>”

“You do have a point there! Maybe she-”</p><p>They both cut off, Jonny glaring daggers at Marius while the not-baron grinned back at him.</p><p>“Jonny is correct, actually. The chances of Carmilla coming back with peaceful intent were only about 15% to begin with, and dropped by 50% when she set off the explosion in the common room.” Ivy chimed in, thumb running across the spine of her book. </p><p>Well. That killed the mood properly. The group settled into an uncomfortable silence, the tension so thick you could cut it with a plasma knife. Brian shivered as he momentarily recalled the vision he had seen. <em>A nightmare or a prophecy? </em>He still couldn’t quite be sure.</p><p>Tim’s hand squeezed his own, a marksman’s hand, ever-steady. </p><p>“Alright, then. Let’s work with what we’ve got. How is Aurora, Nastya?”</p><p>The engineer looked up from her boots at the sound of her name.</p><p>“I wasn’t able to see the full extent of the damage, but considering one of her sides got blasted clean open, probably not well.”</p><p>Brian once again found himself speaking before he’d thought about it. </p><p>“The brunt of the damage was along the common room wall.” Nastya and Tim both looked at him, swiftly followed by the rest of the crew.</p><p>“I couldn’t get a full visual due to the smoke, but what I <em>could </em>see looked… bad. <em>Really </em>bad.” He gripped at his sleeve as he spoke, hands trembling. The memory of blistering burns on the sides of the wall rose unbidden, broken pipes and veins spilling out into the vacuum around the ship. Brian had been able to hear the frantic, fearful thud of Aurora’s heart, hammering away like there was no tomorrow. </p><p>The sight had made his own heart climb into his throat, his body feeling far too light all of a sudden.</p><p>Here and now, it was Tim’s hand coming to gently pry his away from his arm, lacing their fingers together, that was anchoring him.</p><p>“Let’s not get sidetracked.” The master-at-arms stepped in. “There are nine of us, as it stands, and only one of her. Ideally, we would all split up, but I don’t want anyone to get caught alone.” His gaze drifted to the door for just a moment, mechanical eyes going distant, before they returned to the people around him. “Everyone find someone and stick with them. We can’t let her get the jump on <em>anyone.</em>”</p><p>His grip tightened on Brian’s hand as he spoke, steady and strong against the slight trembling of his own. The feeling made him smile as he watched his family around the table.</p><p>Jonny said nothing, but pressed himself closer to Nastya, glaring daggers at the floor. Raphaella’s wings were curled protectively around Ivy, and Ashes had offered a hand to the Toy Soldier, which it had pretended to accept with a relieved smile. 
</p><p>“Marius?” It called to the not-doctor, who was sitting awkwardly by himself in the center of the pairs that had formed around him. He seemed to curl in on himself even further at the sound of its voice. 

“You can come with us if you want, old chap!” It extended a hand to him, its painted grin radiating a kindness that was irrefutably real, no matter how often it argued otherwise. </p><p>“Thank you, TS.” Marius pulled himself up with the offered hand, though his expression remained drawn. He tugged at a loose thread on his coat, not meeting anyone’s eyes.</p><p>“M-Marius- wait.” Raphaella stuttered out, a faint flush on her face, wings twitching this way and that, alight with nervous energy.</p><p>“Would you- That is- Come with us? Please?”</p><p>He finally looked up, blinking in surprise. “I- Of course, if you insist.”</p><p>Brian bit back a chuckle and turned to Tim. </p><p>“Alright, we’ve got groups. Does everyone know where they’re going? Remember, don’t leave anyone alone.”</p><p>A chorus of mumbled assent sent the Mechanisms out of the workshop door and branching out to their respective paths. </p><p>“Nastya.”</p><p>The ex-princess turned at the sound.</p><p>“Keep him safe.” <em>Be safe</em>, he wanted to say, but he hadn’t earned that right.</p><p>“I will.” Her poise was perfect as she turned and walked out into the hall, though her eyes sparkled in the lights of the shop.</p><p>Brian watched her leave, pushing aside the memory of the vision that had awoken him. He clenched his fists, ignoring their tremor that had only worsened since the start of the night. Carmilla would <em>not </em>hurt his family. Never again.</p><p>He grabbed Tim’s other hand, letting it be his anchor, sails, compass. 

“Let’s get out of here.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I hate school!!!! So much!!!!! It's unreal!!!!! here is another chapter i am so tired winter break cannot come soon enough OH YEAH uuuh brian's trembling hands is an hc of mine. his hands still have a residual tremor from being lost in the cosmos lonelyyyyyyyyyyy bc he was very very very cold and the only time it goes away completely is when he's playing an instrument</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>How's that for a first chapter? I hope good, because I have no goddamn clue when I'm going to continue it, nor how long it'll be. Shout-out to the Mechscord for the diminutives "Ara" and "Arenka"!! They were so soft, I just had to include them.</p><p>PLEASE LEAVE KUDOS/A COMMENT IF YOU LIKED THIS! Feedback is my literal lifeblood. I live off of it. Like a slightly nicer if more annoying vampire.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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